Dr. DorothyBelle Poli, professor of biology, and Dr. Lisa G. Stoneman, associate professor of education and department chair, received the Thomas Jefferson Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Natural Science Education on March 18th, 2021, honoring their service to education.

“Receiving an award from the Commonwealth is an honor that is a highlight of my career,” Poli said. “My sole purpose as an educator is to increase science literacy, and the Dragon Research Collaborative has provided me with a unique opportunity to reach many people around Virginia and from other places.”

“As an English education academic, I am fortunate that my love for story and my interest in how and why people see the world as they do, is recognized as an important part of natural history,” Stoneman said. “The family of dragons that we’ve grown over the past eight years has worked, played and traveled together, diving more deeply — and diversely — into the fossil-folklore hypothesis with each semester.”